Arriva stripped of Northern franchise

摘要

THE GOVERNMENT has decided to place the Northern franchise with the Department for Transport's Operator of Last Resort from March 1. The move had been expected after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had previously said the franchise was no longer financially sustainable, and would either go to the OLR or a short-term management contract with Arriva. The latter's nine-year franchise began April 1, 2016. Mr Shapps made several promises to Northern passengers, such as removing Pacers by the summer, something that Northern has already begun, and the introduction of more electric trains, something that was already announced (Class 323s). He also promised a deep clean of all trains and a review of cleaning patterns, despite the fact that most of the existing fleet has just been internally refurbished. He wants the OLR to work with ASLEF to build on an agreement to improve Sunday services, but made no reference to Northern having already negotiated the deal with the union. He did announce that 30 more stations would receive platform extensions to allow longer trains to be used; 30 have recently been completed. By mid-February Northern had 75 of its new CAF built units in service, while only six Class 142s remained in use.